Some babies are born with skeletal abnormalities as for example in the hands, feet and in other important parts of the body such as a patient's shoulders, arms, legs, hands, fingers and thumb, their neck, legs and knees. My co-pending U.S. Patent Application filed on even date herewith Ser. No. 14/178,443, is entitled “Orthotic Methods and Devices for Newborn Babies” and relates more specifically to orthopedic devices for correcting abnormalities in the feet and toes of a newborn human baby.
Correction of skeletal abnormalities of important parts of a human body of young children have been done for many years. For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,044 issued to Carter discloses a derotation wrist brace. As disclosed therein a derotation wrist brace provides volar reduction force and allows early movement of the radiocarpal joint. A first pair of struts are attached to a forearm support member at their first ends. The second ends of the first struts are attached to a first rotation plate. A second pair of struts are attached to a hand support member at their first ends. The second ends of the second struts are attached to a second rotation plate. The first rotation plates and the second rotation plates are coaxially mounted on a pair of shafts.
A more recent U.S. Pat. No. 7,841,998 of Pomeroy et al. discloses a non-invasive external fixator particularly suitable for fracture fixation. In particular, the fixator of the invention includes proximal and distal portions for mounting on a limb either side of a fracture. Each of the proximal and distal portions includes a rigid member. An articulation member connects the proximal and distal portions and includes a universal joint for allowing relative movement between the proximal and distal portions wherein the articulation member connects the rigid members.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a need and a potential commercial market for an orthopedic device for correcting abnormalities in a newborn baby within several hours of the baby's birth. There should be a need because the devices in accordance with the present invention provide early remedy to correct such abnormalities and does so in a painless and efficient manner.